The cervidae family.

Part four the sika deer.

Sika deer were introduced to Britain from Asia about one hundred and thirty years ago. Feral herds escaped from country parks. The sika deer is closely related ti the red deer. They are mostly active at dawn and dusk where their is a lot of human activity. Rutting takes place for the sika deer between late September and November. Males are called stags, they will thrash around in bushes and fray bark with their antlers. They do this to show their dominance and hold a territory. Female sika deer are called hinds, their young which are born singly in June are called calves. The stags cast their old antlers between April and May with the new antlers being formed in August. In summer the sika deers coat is spotted, with a light chestnut brown coat. They have rounded ears with lighter hair on their forehead. This darkens on their brow to give a frowning look. They have a white tail and a white rump. They mainly graze on grass and sometimes shrubbery, they live in mixed woodland, they may also be found occasionally in coniferous woodland. The stag stands about eighty four centimeters at its shoulder, the hind is slighty smaller. Their noise is a quiet squeaking noise, but this increases at the rut so they can gather their females at their harum enableing them to mate. Fights between males can be feirce and sometimes can be fatal.

Things to look out for in November.

The weather is now becoming much more Autumnal, The winds are becoming stronger, with all of the leaves that all have fallen to the ground blowing around. Most of the leaves from the deciduous trees have now fallen. Red wings and fieldfares have now made the long journey from Scandinavia to winter in Britain. They will be seen amongst hawthorn and apple trees, Finding the remaining hawthorn berries and apples. Their have been quite a few mentions of waxwings around Worcestershire. This bird is also a migrant that Winters in Britain. The fallow,sika and red deer will be finishing their rut by now. After the ruts the males, who don`t eat during the rut will feed well getting ready for the onset of winter. The females will also stay together during winter. The females will give birth during may or June of the following year. Chaffiinches and pied wagtails,linnets,bramblings and greenfinches may be seen in mixed flock species( i will be talking about this in a later blog). They are searching for food, which could be any leftover seeds that are still  in the hedgerow or even any late surviving nuts that may still be on the ground. Blue,coal and great tits will be seen on the feeders as they themselves are eating well,getting ready for the cold months ahead as well.  Seven spotted ladybirds will be attempting to enter our houses as they seek somewhere to hibernate over winter. Late migrant red admirals  and comma`s may still be seen amongst the ivy along with queen bumble bees, as long as we havn`t really had a cold snap yet. Wood mice,yellow-necked mice, bank and field voles will still be searching for hazel nuts to eat amongst the leaf litter. Protein rich hazel nuts are important food for a variety of creatures. You can tell what animals have been around by examining the empty shells. A woodmouse will leave a round hole on the side of the hazelnut, with marks of their upper teeth evident. A bank vole will leave a round hole on the top of the hazelnut, with a clearly delineated gnawed edge. A hazel dormouse will leave a round hole on the side of the hazelnut, unlike the woodmouse the edges will be smooth. Hedgehogs will be getting ready to hibernate during November. They use a process called gluco neogenisis to enable them to hibernate, I will be talking about this as well during a later blog. The hedgehogs along with the common dormice and our seventeen species of bats are the only British mammals that hibernate. With the onset of winter food can run short for certain species, so they face the simple choice to move with the food or hibernate and these three species choose to hibernate. Starlings may be seen in large roosts during November, We are not quite sure why they roost in such large numbers, possibilities include safety in numbers, increasing their foraging efficiency or simply for warmth. Its a wonderful sight as they fly around, moving all the time like a shoal of fish in the air then suddenly all descending onto the ground.